As 7 p.m. Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium gets closer and closer, roster changes and depth charts are starting to become more and more clear for San Diego State head coach Rocky Long.

He spent about five minutes on Wednesday giving the media insight into his Aztecs roster:

One notable omission from SDSU's Cal Poly depth chart was defensive end Everett Beed, who had been having a great fall camp. Long said he will not play on Saturday because he missed a couple days of practice for "personal reasons." Long said he was at practice on Wednesday and could be available for next week's game against Army.

Suspended tight end Hunter Hewitt returned to practice today. He did not participate because of acclimation rules, however.

Long said the starting corners will be Leon McFadden and Larry Parker. He said King Holder will be the third corner, and behind that, Long said they are "not comfortable" yet with anybody to make them the fourth corner. "Right now, if we played today, it would be a three-man rotation at corner," the head coach said.

Defensive tackle Jordan Thomas will get the starting nod at defensive end, but will likely split reps equally with Cody Galea.

Safety Gabe Lemon, a surprise performer this camp, will start at one of the Warrior positions on Saturday, Long said.

Injured defensive lineman Kenneth Galea'i has been at practice this week, but will not play on Saturday because of all the practice time he missed nursing a knee injury.

Other injured defensive lineman Larry Gibbs (foot) also returned to practice this week, and Long said he's hopeful Gibbs can play next weekend.

Brandon Davis will not play this weekend because of his summer suspension, Long said. He's eligible to play next week.

Long envisions around 23 players playing on his defense during Saturday's game.

High praise for SDSU

Cal Poly has taken down SDSU both times in their last two meetings, but third-year head coach Tim Walsh wants his Mustang fans to slow down on the three-peat wishes.

"Everybody around Cal Poly wants to talk about a three-peat," Walsh said. "Well unfortunately, we're not playing those same teams."

Walsh knows this SDSU squad is not the same as those Chuck Long used to coach. The Aztecs are not only better record-wise, but Walsh said player-wise, they have some of the best athletes in the country.

"All the sudden now we're playing against a 9-4 bowl-game winner with arguably the best throwing quarterback in the United States in Ryan Lindley coming back and one of the best tailbacks in Ronnie Hillman coming back," he said. "We've got our work cut out for us."

SDSU owns the all-time series record 13-11.

Short Shots

Long said it's an online class transcript that is the basis for Ezell Ruffin's issues. He had no update on the receiver as of Wednesday evening. Long said all other academic issues on the team have been "resolved."